I bought a chainsaw about a year ago and never had the chance to use it. After a very windy storm on Thursday (22 March, ’07), quite a number of trees around the island toppled, got uprooted, or if they are too tall some branches broke.

We have a tall Conni Corpus (not sure what the scientific name or even if this is the right name, it is however what it is being called in Bahrain) which is about 15 – 20 meters high. Half of it broke off and was lying on the road (fortunately not on our wall, it would have broken it!) I thought it looked very unstable and it was best to cut it down…

Out came the chain-saw! I did a bit yesterday – but as it was the first time I use the saw, it got stuck and the chain became loose. I decided that it was too dangerous to carry on and waiting until I took it to the reseller this morning for advice. They told me what to do, came back home, fixed it and together with Arif (my son) helping we cut the tree and then chopped the branches into smaller pieces to help the municipality to clear it. We left a stump of about a meter high in order for it to re-grow from, I hope.

That took about 3 hours to finish.

On the way home from the workshop I stopped off at a nursery in Janabiya and bought 100 gazanias and 20 porulacas. The summer is upon us and I needed to replace some flowers in the borders! So that was my task this afternoon, I planted the gazanias in two borders and the portulacas in a couple of pots by the front door.

Quite an eventful and satisfying day, I suspect that I shall have some deep sleep tonight!

Seeing as you’re the godfather of all plants, can you help me please? I got some daffodils (narcissus) in a pot in my room but they have decided to die! I’m thinking this could be because the weather in Englad has suddenly gotten cold again, because the roots look fine and are all green, but the flowers are dead 🙁

It’s too bad that tree was damaged! Keep the wood, and let it dry out, if you have an outdoor firepit, you can use it for firewood (that type of tree is said to make good charcoal due to the dense wood). I see you also have problems with taggers. What does it say?

The tree is most likely Conocarpus lancifolia, which is native around the Red Sea, and Wikipedia says, is planted all over east Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and south Asia. Though they are native to riverine environments (there are said to be very large trees in Somalia), they are drought and salt resistant. Its cousin, C. erectus is a mangrove (the button mangrove). Wikipedia says the common name in Arabic is “damas” (but of course, they don’t give the dialect of Arabic). The Somali name is Ghalab.

The seedlings have an interesting trick to get established. When the seeds fall onto a flood or stream, they germinate once they reach a pool or area of still water. They root while floating, and as the water int he pol dries up, the roots follow the water into the soil. It is reminiscent of their cousin’s mangrove habit.

I should have a hotline to you and you should certainly sell your tremendous plant identification skills, or at least give me a course on how to do it!

Strange that they call this particular tree in Bahrain “the mercenary American”! I kid you not!

They sell them for about a Dinar each when young and they have been planted all over the island because they grow very quick and provide the privacy screen people crave. But, their roots tunnel to the closest water source rather quickly and destructively, be that source a leaking water pipe, a drain, even a swimming pool and if there is a wall nearby or any other structure, that structure would suffer.

Because people now know the destructive power of that tree, they are pulling them out and not planting any more of those in homes any more. I have removed about 20 or so from inside my garden, but left 10 outside one side of the perimeter wall, it was the largest of those that got damaged and hence cut.

I don’t have any place to store the wood, but was thinking that I could chop the wood into smaller pieces and use them to build a border with them around flower beds. I’ll see if the rubbish is still there tonight when I get home and decide what to do with them. Wood that big is a shame to waste.

About the graffiti, we’ve had problems with kids from the local school squatting there and missing school, they hide there and kids will be kids. I complained to the school a couple of times only for them to disappear for a few days to come back and resume their artistic skills. I didn’t resort to the police yet, that seems to be a far too serious thing to do, but shall if it goes a step further.

One thing you could try for your graffiti loving waifs is, instead of turning them in, you might ask them if they want to mural that part of the wall.

Graffiti was rampant in my city until someone got the bright idea that focusing the misfits artistic skills kept them busy, and showed off their talent. Graffiti took a nosedive and no one touched the murals.

All of the research skills taught to me in University have paid off :). My knowledge is simply my desire to search for information to be useful to people. Mom says I should do research for television shows (Not sure I’d want to do it as a job!).

That is incredibly funny they call that tree the “mercenary American” since that tree is actually from your region (well, maybe not Bahrain, but at least very close). I can see why though, it’s one of those crafty trees that is very good at squeezing the last resources out of whatever it can find. Pages I’ve read about your particular type say that they like a high water table, and will search out any source of moisture. We have similar problems with Willows, and Poplars (Populus). It is always advised to keep those types of trees away from pipes because with any source of moisture, their roots will seek it, and infiltrate the pipes (and they can clog sewage and water lines).

There is one tree that is a problem in our deserts, Tamarix, or salt cedar. The roots can tap into water tables, and the trees in the Colorado River basin are water thirsty enough that in one year they can pull up the equivalent of the state of Nevada’s allotment from that river for an entire year.

Mahmooood!!! ur weilding a highly distructive, apparently sharp, tool! and u run a blog… and ur an arab… and ur about to buy a new car, cause u wanna use the old one for some sinister reasons dont you?! :ninja:

This is better than the target practice with empty cans and bottles at the farm!!! :devil:

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